I think to deal with almost any degree of stuck, it might take more than a 12,000 pound winch and if the ground was soft enough to sink into, it probably won't hold a post you can drive in to the ground well enough to take that kind of force. Especially since buses don't seem to barely get stuck very often. Now with a

Well if a truck that was rated for towing 10,000 pounds can move a 300,000 pound space shuttle, then this makes sense? LOL

That is a good point. On the other hand, that situation is high pressure tires on a hard smooth surface. Minimal rolling resistance. But just jamb one of the shuttle's wheels with block of wood and I would just about bet that truck would be out of luck.

Next think about pushing a car yourself. On smooth flat ground no problem. Add grass it gets a little harder. Ad softness to the ground and it gets a lot harder. Mire a tire, forget it.

On flat ground we use pickups to reposition no operating buses here on the shops lot. But they wouldn't stand a chance if one or more wheels got into the ground a bit.

The ratio of 300,000 - 10,000 is 30The radio of 40,000 -12,000 is about 3.33!!!!

True. And if the bus is only a little stuck, it would probably only multiply the force 3 or 4 times. But if the tire got sunk in perhaps 8 inches or so, I think we are dealing with exponentials there. lol

I was thinking you could drive a giant stake into the ground and attach the winch onto it if there were not any trees around.

Only if a farmer was paying you to plow a field. I've had to pull out lots of Land Rovers that were "barely stuck" -- we almost never had any luck with driven anchors or "ground anchors" or anything other than a very solid object. Almost any load will pull the stake (even a "giant" one) right out.

One thing that we did do was put a couple of floor mats or a folded blanket etc over the winch cable. If the cable breaks if you do this, you'll probably only take out one headlight and one windshield panel instead of everything on the front of the bus.

In the right situation, with the right set up (particularly if you can get any "drive" from the stuck vehicle itself), a winch seems to work miracles. If you have anything working against you (uphill, deep sunk tires, no anchor point, no way to get a good angle on the pull. etc.), you can pull all day and just waste your time (at best -- or really bust something up, at worst).